From mid-table mediocrity to the top of the table - and with more than a dozen international players in the squad - Northampton have a target on their back as the team to beat. Hilary Scott speaks to Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell and Tommy Freeman about losing, winning and doing it all over again in the new season.
“When I was in the academy, I’d look about and be like ‘there’s Stevie Myler, Ben Foden…’ and I was like, oh, be really polite around them and what-not,” says Saints and England scrum-half Alex Mitchell. “I guess we’ve kind of stepped into that role now.”
‘Mitch’, an essential part of the Saints structure and now with 123 appearances for the club, wracks his brain when asked who the new ‘old man’ of the club is, until it dawns on him that at the grand old age of 27, it might actually be him.
“It must be Hutch [Hutchinson], he’s 28.” (Elliot Millar-Mills is actually the eldest, a club staffer whispers behind us). “I guess it’s people like Hutch and I guess it’s me, and Ferbs [George Furbank].”
It turns out rugby players don’t rank seniority on age, but on caps (appearances): “I was the first pick in the draft for the lockers, because that’s done on caps, and you get two for international caps so it was between me and Hutch I think.
“But we’ve got a really young squad and it’s exciting.”
Mitchell joined the academy back in 2015, and quickly joined the senior squad training with scrum halves like Lee Dickson and then Cobus Reinach. He’s now the first choice 9 with competition from Tom James, and plenty of academy talent from players like Jake Garside and Archie McParland coming through.
He’s keen to get the season started, and with an away game against last year’s rivals Bath, who they beat in the Gallagher Premiership final, Mitch knows they need a strong start: He said: “Obviously, is the first game of the season, so it’s the first hit out for a lot of boys and we know it’s a massive, a massive game. Now, obviously, they’re going to be one of the best sides in the league again. It will be a great marker for us, especially down at their place, a tough place to go to see where we’re at.”
Fly-half Fin Smith, at the grand old age of 22, is also one of the Saints’ backs to have impressed both at club and international level and says the 23-24 season was the best of his career. His relationship with scrum-half Mitchell is key to Saints’ success and evidence of the strong bonds between players on and off the pitch:
He explained: “Firstly, he’s one of my best mates, Mitch. We’ve spent a lot of time together. We obviously grew a lot last year and spoke sort of every other day about how we saw the direction of the team going and how me and him could help drive that. And then off the back of the tour we’ve had a couple of conversations about things that we think England do well, and things that we think Northampton do well, and how we can sort of take the best from both and drive that into this season.
“We’re both just looking to get better day by day and I’ve loved playing with him, he’s a joy to be alongside.”
Smith was snapped up by Saints after the collapse of Worcester Warriors in 2022 after he played a few games for Ampthill, and his career has blossomed at Franklins’ Gardens, winning the Premiership and causing headaches for England selectors over which Smith to choose in the crucial fly-half spot.
“It’s been such a busy year, we probably had a couple of days after winning the Premiership to really celebrate and enjoy what we’ve done as a group, because obviously it was a huge achievement and a great year as a team, and I felt like I took big strides personally. But then we were straight back into the next challenge, going to New Zealand, Japan and trying to get on with that. Everything’s quite fast moving, but I’m sure it’s something I’ll look back on in years to come as an amazing year and probably the best one I’ve enjoyed so far in my career.
“Last year I had a big, big goal to get capped – and that happened. And obviously we did something great in the league. I’d love for this group to be able to back up what we did last year, I think potentially with some of the some of the outgoings we’ve had, maybe people are writing us off a little bit, but we’re super confident that we’ve got enough quality to back ourselves.”
Smith was one of seven players to join up for a holiday in Bali after the England tour and says the break from playing was welcome – even if it included a bout of ‘Montezuma’s revenge’:
“I did a little pit stop in Bali for a few days but unfortunately caught a bout of Bali belly which had me out on my feet for a few days…but it was nice to cut loose after such a long tour.
“I think personally the way the way last season probably finished for me, has given me a real hunger going into this season. We had a great year with Northampton and then maybe didn’t quite perform how would I liked over in New Zealand [with England]. So actually it’s been less sort of dwelling on what’s been, and actually being really positive so it doesn’t feel too much like pressure.
“I want to be the best player I can be, and that’s all I’m working towards every day. We’ve always talked about playing space and moving the ball. So yeah, that’s absolutely the goal. Keep pushing it – pushing ourselves to play an exciting brand of rugby but also one that we believe is going to help us win games.
“Everyone seems to be gunning for the team that’s won the league, and whilst we expect that to happen, I think we quite like the idea that we’re going to quietly go about our business and hopefully surprise a few people again like we did last year. I think it’s going to be something that’s really positive for us, we’ve still got a big core of the group that were involved last year and we’re working hard to replicate what happened last season.”
In a pool of very talented young players, Tommy Freeman adds an enviable versatility. The 23-year-old, 6ft 2in winger/centre/fullback gives selectors at both Saints and England a dilemma, as a versatile back, but does he have a preference about where he plays?
He says: “In junior rugby I was the late bloomer, so I was the little kid that went to nine, then I was at 10. So yeah, as I’ve got bigger and faster I’ve gone out to the wing and now I’m getting bigger and wider I’m moving back in.
“Chopping and changing can be a bit difficult at times, but if they [England] want me on the wing and then I’ve got to have consistency there, if they want to play me at 13, I’ve got to train there and do all the things that I need to do there as well.”
Tommy revealed that when he went out to New Zealand with England straight after the Premiership win, he immediately got a chest infection, which then eased off in time to play, then flared up again once he got home. “I had a chest infection in the first week, and didn’t train until about Thursday. As soon as I got back off the tour I was hit by the same thing.”
He’s keen to take learnings from his England experience, and discussed the different ways he’s used at club and country. “My position was… actually I’m not sure what position at the moment, but, uh, Centre, Wing.
“That high ball focus that we’ve got with England and how hard we go after that. Um, it’s definitely something we’re going to probably implement here [at Saints] as well. Having the strength and dominating the air. I’m pretty happy at both positions, centre and wing, to be honest. I think having both of them definitely helps me. But yeah, obviously, first and foremost, being on the pitch is the most important thing and wherever the coaches see fit.”
But playing different positions – even if you’re a professional rugby player – takes a little mental dexterity: “Sometimes you can kind of be in that mode where on the wing you’re a bit freer, in roaming mode, picking up things where you want, whereas at 13, you’re probably in a more fixed place. So, there are probably times in my head where I’m making a decision before I’ve actually got the ball, I’m going to kick it when it’s probably not on and I can just pass it.
“Ferbs can cover a few positions. He’s got his 10 and 15. We obviously complement each other a little bit. I mean if I need to go to fullback as well I can step in there. He kind of does his job and I’ll do mine and we go from there.”
So how does it feel to be back training as champions and keep the momentum when everyone basically thinks you’re great?
“There’s a balance – and I think there’s a bit of a trap there as well that you can kind of fall into. Obviously after winning the Prem you can kind of take your foot off the off the pedal a bit. But I think we’re all young and hungry enough to realise that in today’s game, each team are going to be hungrier to get the top spot. So we’ll have some targets on our back and we know that. We’ll have to just keep our heads down and carry on our business and hopefully back it up this year.”
Northampton Saints host Leinster in a pre-season game at 2pm on Saturday, September 7. Tickets and info via Northamptonsaints.co.uk
